7 - 0 victory in Sterling Heights!

It happened around midnight in the City Council chambers in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The Council voted unanimously, 7 - 0, to pass an ordinance that will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity. The ordinance will "apply to all persons seeking employment or housing in the city, but specifically would extend civil rights protection based upon sexual orientation and identity."

I am ecstatic.

7 - 0.

I had the honor of speaking with Mayor Pro Tem Mike Taylor before the vote. With allies like him and others on the Council who spoke about equality and prejudice, I feel even more hopeful about the future for those of us who do not fit into the heterosexual norm than I did before.

Said Mayor Pro Tem Taylor in a prior vote that brought us to last night, "“For those of you concerned that your ability to practice religion is being taken away, that is not the case. We can argue and debate many things, but this is not one of them,” he said. “The First Amendment is your shield and it protects you and your ability to practice religion, but it is not a sword to be used to strike down your fellow citizens because they do not agree with you.”

I agree.

I most likely won't get to speak with all of those on the Sterling Heights City Council who voted last night so will pass this message along:

Thank you. Thank you for being a voice for the voiceless. Thank you for shining light onto bigotry in any form. Thank you for doing the right thing and acknowledging all of your citizens and those who want to be part of the greatness that is Sterling Heights. As one of your citizens said "Discrimination is real and it happens every day. It is subtle, it is rarely overt, and it is laws like this that are necessary to protect LGBT people…Freedom is for all of us not just some of us who fit into a preconceived norm. Sometimes freedom for all makes us uncomfortable, that is the challenge of freedom."

I have a huge smile on my face and even more hope in my heart. Sterling Heights is where I came of age. I lived there during elementary school and junior high school, the years that I began to realize that I was different. It is a very special place for me.

Based on the vote last night, the City Council also thinks so.

Thank you for reading.

A great step towards equality in Michigan!

Every day amazing people everywhere are making their voices heard in support of equality. I want to share about someone in Sterling Heights, MI who I recently heard from.

I am approaching the third anniversary of The Gay Vegans blog and am as excited and committed as ever to keep this blog as a part of a community that speaks out for the voiceless, works for equality, and believes that we all have more in common than not.

I still feel new to the blogging world. I still feel full of wonder. Every day I seem to learn more about blogging and websites. It's an incredible path for sure.

Since the very start I have been blown away by the support from readers that I get. The love. The compassion. The conversation about topics important to us. It's always great to know that not only is someone reading my post, but they they took action because of it, shared it, or began to think about something that they had previously not thought about.

This week I received an email from someone who read one of my posts. It was a post I had written when a US federal judge had ruled that Michigan's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. Having grown up in Michigan I was ecstatic.

A city council member, actually the Mayor Pro Tem, of Sterling Heights, a city I had lived in for several years, wrote to me about the post. Mike Taylor had read my post and wanted to connect about an action he was taking:

"It was very frustrating for me to hear you recount such painful memories from Michigan and Sterling Heights. I'm sure you're not alone. I'm hoping I can do something to help people here who feel the way you did. To that end, at our latest council meeting (Tuesday May 20) I asked the administration to prepare a non-discrimination ordinance that will protect everyone in Sterling Heights from discrimination on the basis of orientation and gender identity. Currently in Michigan, there is no protection against discriminating against someone in employment, housing, or in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity."

He hopes to report that next  month this will pass, making Sterling Heights the 34th city in Michigan to have such an ordinance.

Glory be.

Thank you Mike Taylor. 

I will admit, with no surprise for our readers, that this made me quite emotional. It's difficult not to get tears in my eyes while writing this post. I am 48 years old yet clearly remember a different time in my life when I was filled with self-hatred, fear and shame. This was the young man who lived in Sterling Heights. Now this same man gets to see an equality ordinance passed in that same city.

I am incredibly grateful to Mayor Pro Tem Taylor and will keep you all posted on the ordinance.

Will the ordinance make a difference? Of course. In a state like Michigan where there are no legal protections against discrimination of those in the LGBTQ community, this will be a powerful force. Where I think it will make an even bigger difference is amongst the young people in Sterling Heights, maybe some who are living like I did. Now they hear that those in power in their city support them. Perhaps there will be less self-hatred, less hate, less bullying and even fewer young people thinking that death is better than being themselves. We just never know the power of such an ordinance.

I will keep writing posts that I hope are engaging, eye opening and helpful to everyone who reads them. I will keep writing posts that ask those who read them to take actions that will make the world a better place for all living beings.

I would be grateful if you shared this post with friends and family who might live in Sterling Heights. It's always nice to support those who support equality. 

Thank you for reading.

Marriage equality in Michigan!

Grissom Middle School, Sterling Heights

Midland High School, Midland

I grew up in Michigan.

I grew up gay in Michigan. Some time in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights and a couple of years in Midland, further north.

All of my family is still in Michigan. Mike and I visit at least every other year.

I seldom talk positively about Michigan. That's my flaw. I just think it's dreary and don't have fond memories.  I remember the intense self-hatred. I remember the secret. I could never be honest with anyone. I could only survive day by day with my shame. Many days I didn't want to survive.
 
Fortunately for me I have recent awesome memories of time with old friends and vegan adventures. I have also realized in my adulthood that bigotry and hate are everywhere, not just in my home state. I actually get excited these days when Mike and I talk about a visit to Michigan. 

So this morning when I say photos of gay couples in line to get marriage licenses and of couples getting married, I bawled.

I bawled for quite a while.

The world is changing. Freedom is coming to many who previously had only dreamed about it. I honestly never thought the day would come when I could be legally married. Or would be legally married. I honestly never thought that marriage equality would ever come to the state that for me was synonymous with shame, brutal bigotry, and hate.

And here we are.

Whew.

Let's celebrate. And then let's continue to work towards full marriage equality throughout our country. Let's continue to speak out against bigotry and hate at every level.

Thanks for reading.